The Hard Way
by badly-knitted
Summary: It's a minor repair job, Jack can easily handle it alone, right? A silly little fic written for fic promptly.


**Title:** The Hard Way

 **Author:** badly-knitted

 **Characters:** Jack, Ianto.

 **Rating:** PG

 **Spoilers:** Nada.

 **Summary:** It's a minor repair job, Jack can easily handle it alone, right?

 **Word Count:** 1268

 **Written For:** My own prompt 'Torchwood, Jack, Quick-drying cement,' at fic_promptly.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC

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 **DottyWho:** You're welcome.

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The unidentified alien device they'd found turned out to be a small grenade, or at least that was the most likely explanation for the fact that, when left unattended while everyone was busy elsewhere, it rolled off Gwen's desk where it had been left and blew a big crater in the concrete floor. But this was Torchwood, where such incidents were par for the course, and at least this time nobody was injured; the damage was purely cosmetic, or so Jack insisted.

"It'll be fine, Ianto, don't make such a fuss! I'll fix it, you just go and enjoy your evening out with Tosh." The two friends had arranged to visit a new exhibit at the museum, something that didn't really interest either of their significant others.

"Are you sure? Tosh and I could go some other evening…"

"Positive, it's not the first time I've had to make repairs; a bit of quick-drying cement and the floor will be good as new. Now go; you don't want to keep Tosh waiting. I'll see you later."

Ianto laughed. "Fine, I can see you're just itching to get rid of me so you can have a play, making mud pies." He leant in for a kiss. "Sometimes I think you never really grew up, you're still a little boy at heart and you love playing with anything messy."

"What can I say? Gloopy stuff is fun!" Jack grinned back at his lover. "By the time you get back, there won't be a trace of that little crater; you'll see. Have a good time."

As soon as the cog door had closed behind Ianto, Jack got stuck in, finding a couple of old buckets to mix everything in, fetching the bags of cement, a trowel, and a flat piece of wood for levelling the surface, and arranging everything around the hole to be filled.

He had a high old time, measuring amounts, mixing the cement to the right consistency, pouring it in, and carefully levelling the surface. When he was finished, he drew a smiley face on it and stood back to admire his handiwork; he'd made an excellent job of it, even though he said so himself.

Repairs completed, he had the rest of the evening to himself, so after clearing his tools away, he ordered takeaway for dinner and sat on the battered old sofa to eat, a fork in one hand and a book in the other. He'd finished his meal and was sipping a cup of coffee from the thermos Ianto had filled for him before leaving, when the Rift alert sounded.

Leaping to his feet, he dropped his book on the sofa cushions and taking his coffee with him, went to see what was going on. He leant on Gwen's desk, pulling the keyboard towards him and turning the screen so he could see it, the way he always did.

It took him about ten minutes to gather all the necessary information from the computer and make a note of the coordinates. He'd also accessed CCTV in the area, to see what that could tell him. The new arrival registered as inanimate and was a bit smaller than the average bread bin. Jack nodded in satisfaction, no need to call any of the others in; he could easily handle this one alone.

Sending the coordinates to the SUV's satnav, but picking up the paper he'd jotted notes on just in case it was needed, Jack put Gwen's computer back in standby mode and turned to head for the garage. Well, that is to say, he tried to, but for some reason his feet failed to move and it was all he could do not to fall over.

He looked down and understanding dawned.

"Oh, crap!" While he'd been busy with the computer, he'd stood in the wrong place; without noticing, he'd sunk more than ankle deep in the quick-drying cement he'd poured earlier, and now it had set solid with him in it. Ianto was never going to let him live this one down. To make matters worse, it had gone over the tops of his boots, so he couldn't even just take them off and leave them. He was completely immobile; he'd have to be chipped free!

Looking around him, he tried to find something to use, but even rummaging through Gwen's desk drawers failed to turn up anything helpful, though the bar of chocolate he found wedged at the back of the top drawer was nice.

When Ianto arrived back at the Hub a couple of hours later, after a very enjoyable time at the exhibit and a late dinner with Tosh, he found Jack draped, fully clothed, over Gwen's workstation, fast asleep. He must have been working hard. Walking over to wake his lover, Ianto saw that the crater was gone, leaving a smiley face in its place. Nice touch. A few more steps, and he burst out laughing.

Jack jerked awake. "Huh? What?" Then he spotted Ianto. "Ianto! Hi! You're back!"

"You know, when I made that comment about you liking to play in messy stuff, I didn't expect you to go paddling in the cement!"

"It wasn't intentional; there was a Rift alert and I just forgot…" Jack trailed off, face heating up.

"Looks like you could use a hand getting out of there."

"Please?" Jack turned the puppy dog eyes on full force. "I tried for ages, but I couldn't get free, and now my back aches." He looked so mournful that Ianto took pity on him.

"Chipping you free could take hours, but there's a device in the archives that should work; it can liquefy solid ground within a pre-selected radius, then harden it again. Tosh thinks it was probably used for construction on the world it comes from. Should do the trick. Wait here while I fetch it."

"Like I have any choice."

"True. I'll be right back."

Twenty minutes later, Jack was cleaning the remainder of the re-liquefied cement off his boots and trousers while Ianto hardened what was in the crater again. "Your work of art is about ready for your signature again, Jack," he called as Jack came back up from the showers, dressed in clean clothes.

Jack mooched over and looked at the cement, which Ianto had carefully cordoned off. There was already a smiley face drawn into it, courtesy of Ianto, alongside what looked like Ianto's palm print.

"It's not the Hollywood walk of fame, but…" Ianto shrugged. "At least I get to leave my mark."

Jack smiled and pressed his own palm print into the drying cement, but instead of a smiley, he added a heart with his and Ianto's initials inside. "Now we'll be together for as long as the Hub exists."

"I like that thought," Ianto replied, stretching across their artwork to kiss Jack, then pulling back. "Now, didn't you say something about a Rift alert?"

"Damn, I almost forgot! Don't worry about it, what came through was only small, I can deal with it by myself."

"I've heard that before. I think maybe I should go with you, just in case you get stuck."

"I was right," Jack sighed. "I'm never going to live this down, am I?"

"It's not everyone who can cement themselves into the floor without noticing; that's quite an achievement, you should be proud of yourself," Ianto smirked.

Shoulders slumped, Jack followed Ianto towards the garage. When they got back, he would have to erase all the CCTV footage before anyone else saw it. He really hoped Ianto wouldn't tell the rest of the team.

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The End


End file.
